Her Sister's Statue
by Roxius
Summary: All alone in her grand ice palace, Elsa takes to creating statues of the people she'd known for the sake of 'company', but the only one she could ever construct correctly was Anna's. But then Elsa discovers that her powers had another ability after all; she can bring life to the ice. Elsanna.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I have not seen the movie, but I have known about the pairing and most of what happens for the plot, so I apologize for any mistakes or discrepancies when compared to the canon material. She's meant to be a little crazier than normal for this story.

* * *

Elsa held out her hand and concentrated. A sparkling, white mist flowed from the tips of her fingers. In front of her, a column of air was twisting, churning, freezing into a corporal form. It was only possible because of her magic that ice could be made out of oxygen. The ice started to materialize, and as it solidified, it took on a specific shape. There were crooked and misshapen arms, legs attached at the heel, a broad, bulky body, and the face was surely the most misshapen piece of all. If Elsa squinted hard enough to be practically shutting her eyes, then she could almost pretend that the statue barely, vaguely resembled the third chef at the coronation party.

"Hmph, it's just another dud."

The human-shaped figure shuddered violently before it crumbled to pieces at the ice queen's feet. Elsa huffed, punting the heap of snow and ice out of her way. She strode out of the crystalline throne room, leaving snowy piles strewn all over the floor like discarded wrappers, and made her way down the left corridor, gliding past room after empty room. Elsa eyed the 'pillars' that supported the ceiling, and with the swipe of her hand, they were instantly adorned with shimmering icicle reefs.

Elsa stopped and stared at her hands; she thought she knew everything there was about the magic she'd been born with, but really she knew so little.

She didn't understand why, if her powers had proven themselves so monstrously powerful, to be able to erect massive palaces with nothing but some waving motions, a bit of imagination and some ice, then why couldn't she recreate a perfect human figure so easily? It was like, the harder she focused, the less refined it became. Elsa pinched the bridge of her nose. She recalled all of those faces, frozen with gaping jaws and wide eyes, at the display of her magic. Thinking about them made something burn deep inside the young woman, and she never thought she could ever feel something like that.

Maybe that explained it. She didn't WANT to remember those people, not so much as keep herself company with ice sculptures in their likeness. Somehow, those inner-thoughts showed through her magic.

Elsa breathed deeply. She was having one of her moments again. She needed to calm herself, and there was only one way she could do that. But at the same time, it frightened her to do so. It frightened her because it meant confronting a reality about herself that she didn't want to accept, and because, after spending so much time alone with nothing but her own thoughts, she'd discovered that deep down, it had always been present.

Elsa suddenly burst into a sprint, her cheeks flaring. Heat was such a foreign concept for her and she never even noticed it.

* * *

Elsa, despite everything, had constructed one part of her castle in the likeness of her sister's bedroom, as best as she could remember it from childhood. It was in this one place that she had allowed her thoughts and desires to run wild, where the line between moral and immoral blurred for her. Somewhere that she could freely indulge in her sins and weep alone for what she had done.

"Anna..."

Elsa had not destroyed all of her failed creations. There were a select few that she treasured, despite all of their imperfections, because they were the only reminder aside from her own thoughts that told her, that at one time, even for a short time, someone had been able to love her and her accursed powers unconditionally. Her sister.

Elsa shuddered as she stepped into the room, instantly feeling the dozen of 'eyes' gazing back at her. She had been attempting, struggling, to recreate the appearance of her sister out of the ice, but as with the statues based on the coronation guests, it was not easy. When she could not focus her mind or her heart on what she was attempting to create, it seemed that the strength of her magic wavered. But then again, she didn't know. She really knew so little about her powers if she thought too much about it.

At the same time, she also couldn't deny that the Anna statues appeared much more complete, even though most of the anatomy was still terribly off.

There were five statues of Anna standing in different points around the room, standing in different poses, but generally looking the same. It was Anna in her dress from the royal coronation, and every time those images of her popped into Elsa's mind, she felt that heat bubbling up inside of her again. She stepped toward the closest statue and casually caressed its icy cheek. Even though one eye was just a little larger than the other and the nose was slightly lopsided, the statue of Anna still looked so beautiful, just as the real thing did. Elsa had really meant what she had said back then; Anna had grown up into such a beautiful young woman over all of those years. Elsa subconsciously ran her thumb over the statue's pert lips. So cool. Elsa shivered. She wondered if Anna was thinking about her right now. She was such a sweet, awkward girl, but now that she had met Hans, she was probably going to become a mother, and live a life far away from this frozen land.

Elsa sniffled; she really didn't want to think about that.

'I wonder if I can create a ice replica of her that looks better than this...I want one that's perfect...if I can fill this country with snow and create my own palace to live in, surely that shouldn't be so hard, should it? Anna should be easier than all of them. All I have to do is focus...focus...'

Elsa's mind was flooded with thoughts and images of her younger sister, from both their time in childhood and at the coronation party. So many memories, both good and bad, and that unusual burning sensation in her stomach's pit grew even hotter. She turned to an empty space and outstretched her arm, holding her palm steady.

She thought of Anna's red hair; silky and soft, the color of fallen Autumn leaves.

She thought of Anna's eyes; clearer and brighter than even the most perfect ice crystal.

She thought of Anna's perfectly round face, the freckles that dotted her cheeks like little red snowflakes, her nose, her mouth, her neck, that petite body that gave off so much love and warmth that Elsa almost couldn't stand it sometimes, but all the while she wished she could just lay a single solitary finger on that bare skin underneath the dress, so smooth it must feel. Elsa inhaled. She needed to calm down. She continued to imagine Anna as the magic pumped from her hands and formed her masterpiece. She wished she could have said more to her at that coronation, she wished she could have rebuilt their relationship, to the way it used to be when they were just little girls. She wished they could just build a snowman again.

Elsa blinked. It was done. Her jaw dropped; it looked exactly like Anna, constructed from ice harder than steel or brick. Elsa stared longer, and she saw no mistakes, no imperfections. It was like Anna was standing right in front of her. Elsa gasped. She lunged forward and embraced the frozen statue like it was a real person. She felt no sense of heat from it, but it was the best she could hope for. She understood, that it was her love for her sister that helped her make this possible. She pulled back enough to admire the ice statue's face. It looked just like her. Elsa gulped; her heart had suddenly started beating rather quickly. She couldn't tear her eyes away, it was like looking into beauty incarnate itself. Elsa had felt hints of these feelings now and then, especially when she was surrounded by these particular statues, but she'd always been so afraid of them, of what they really meant. She was beginning to see her little sister not as a sibling, but as a woman...and that filled every bit of her being with fear.

Right now, though, she couldn't stop herself. The desire was too great to fight She moved in, and before she knew it, her lips enclosed around the mouth of the statue of her sister. Elsa moaned. Her tongue ran along the upper lip, and then the lower lip, tasting the cold, cold ice. A subdued moan escaped her. She dipped tongue into the small space of open mouth available. Elsa gripped the statue like she would any lover. She kissed it again with a surprising amount of passion. It wasn't the same as flesh and blood, but it would do, if she imagined the real thing was in her arms right now...

'Wait!'

Elsa opened her eyes, and it all came down on her like an avalanche, threatening to bury her under the incredible weight. She removed her mouth slowly at first, but as it gradually settled in her mind, she was much more hasty to take her hands off of the statue and back away from it. Her eyes were practically bugging out of their sockets. Her mind, it was jumping up and down, erratically, and she didn't know where to make head and tails of it all anymore. Confusion, revulsion and despair were swirling about inside of her. She had felt such a wonderful high, but now she'd fallen, into her deepest low yet. She couldn't really be...in love...with her sister, could she? Elsa asked herself.

She touched her lips. They were warm, somehow.

Elsa stared at the face of Anna smiling emptily back at her. A shudder crawled up her spine as she thought of kissing it again. She sighed, shaking her head; she was just feeling a little lonely. She needed some rest. She would feel better soon, once she straightened out her thoughts.

Elsa hurried for the door. Her cheeks burned, and when she cast a final look at the ice Anna behind her, they burned just a little brighter. She stepped out into the corridor, and without looking back, she waved her hand at the doorway, sealing it with a mound of ice. She couldn't go back into this room anymore, lest her taboo desires get any more out of hand, and that was probably the last thing she wanted. She did not need anything to tempt her otherwise. Elsa headed for her bedroom. She could only hope these silly ideas would be gone and away from her by the time she woke up from her rest.

Meanwhile, back inside of the abandoned room, the ice statue of Anna began to tremble. Its fingers slowly curled into fists, and a single name slipped from the figurine's lips as the magic continued to fill it and form its soul, breathing a life into it that never should have been. The young woman's magic was something much more than just ice and snow and cold, and she wasn't even aware of it yet.

"Elsa."


	2. Chapter 2

When Elsa awoke, she brushed her fingers over her face to discover that she had been crying in her sleep. The tears had frozen over, becoming like miniature icicles clinging to her skin. She had been dreaming of Anna, she knew that much. Nothing new for her. After that harrowing incident with the ice statue, where she'd foolishly let both her magic and her emotions get out of hand, she'd been left with a heaviness in her chest that just wouldn't dissipate. It seemed that the rest had calmed her some, but not to the levels of passiveness she'd wished. When she thought of that kiss, in spite of what'd she'd shared it with, her heart jumped.

Elsa removed the icy tears from her face and strode out of her bedroom. She was going to need to get something to eat soon, it was almost dinner time. She knew it was a bad idea, like a recovering alcoholic working at a distillery, but she purposely took the route through the castle that would take her past 'Anna's bedroom'. She had sealed up the doorway into the room herself; it was just a pointless act of reassurance on her part to check that the wall was still there. She had to lie to herself that that was her only reason for wanting to go there.

Elsa took a sharp turn around the last corner to put herself 'face to face' with the enclosed room. She had expected to see what she'd left, a wall of ice blocking all passage. Instead, there was a human-sized hole in the center of said wall. Elsa's jaw dropped. She approached the shattered wall with some apprehension; how had the ice broken? Was it not stable? That couldn't be possible, due to the strength of her magic supporting this entire structure. Why was it a hole large enough to fit a person? No one around could have broken through the ice...or was that really the case?

Elsa could only one possibility to explain it: someone had intruded on her land and entered her palace, likely when she had been asleep.

Elsa's hands began to sparkle and shimmer as she felt the surge of magic flowing through her, instigated by her anger; she would not allow a trespasser to wander around her home freely. She would not kill or mortally injure this bandit, for she was no monster, but she would certainly teach him or her a lesson before throwing them back out into the snow. She was very fine being alone with just herself and her powers. No need to bring another into the mix.

Elsa began charging down the other length of corridor, her magic at the ready to freeze the legs of any person she might come across. She had nothing of value in her castle, nothing she had ever taken with her from her old home except her memories. Not only would the burglar fail to find any riches, but they would have to deal with some frostbite too, courtesy of Elsa.

"Come out! Reveal yourself to me! I can assure you right now that, whoever you are, you will find nothing of value in this castle of ice and frost! The only thing you're accomplishing at this point is infuriating me! Unless I'm the one that you're looking for...then I'd prefer that you faced me in person!"

Elsa's magic was practically rolling off her fingertips in anticipation, and the longer she waited, the angrier Elsa became. There really was a chance that this intruder was an assassin sent to eliminate her in hopes of ending the freeze; it didn't seem entirely unlikely, after the big spectacle she made at the coronation in front of so many of the nation's rich and powerful.

Elsa kept her back pinned against the wall so she wouldn't have to worry about being attacked in one less direction. Her eyes darted back and forth down the empty hall. She could hear footsteps now. Elsa swallowed the saliva building in her throat. She could see a silhouette cast itself on the wall as the intruder started to turn around the corner. Judging on shadow alone, it appeared to be a woman, a small and skinny one at that. Elsa raised an eyebrow in personal disbelief; they sent someone like that to kill a queen, who possessed powers that could cover the entire land in endless winter? It was a little offensive to her pride.

"Elsa?"

Anna emerged. Elsa's hands dropped to her sides, and with them also went any will she might have had to fight back. It wasn't actually Anna, Elsa quickly realized after thoroughly rubbing her eyes, but the ice statue she had crafted in the likeness of her sibling. It had come to life. The ice Anna gingerly touched at its breast with a fearful, lost expression, like a puppy dog that gotten separated from its family. There was still a faint smudge of the ice queen's lipstick on the ice being's mouth.

"You...you're...you're..." Elsa slapped her hands on her reddened cheeks, "No! No! No! This...this can't be possible! It has to be an illusion or something; a trick of my eyes! Or maybe I'm still asleep!"

Elsa summoned her magic yet again, and even though she knew it would be near-useless on a being already made out of ice, it was still her only source of defense.

"Who or what are you? Anna, is that you? How did you get here? Tell me what's going on here!"

"Elsa, I'm Anna! That's the name you gave me!" The sculpture took a step closer, and Elsa raised her hands.

"Are you really? Wait,' the name I gave you'? And why do you look just like that...that statue I made...oh God, don't tell me..." Elsa felt like she was crumbling, the more and more she tried to speak and make sense of what was going on in front of her. She had finally let go and unleashed the full brunt of her powers, so as to relish in them and to control them to her own benefit, but she had always assumed her powers' limits were the creation and manipulation of ice and snow. This was something completely different, and it was something she wanted to take no part in. There was no way she could have created an entirely new life.

"I can only remember as far back as when you kissed me. The instant that I came to life, I heard the names 'Anna' and 'Elsa' in my head. I knew you were Elsa, so I can only assume 'Anna' is meant to be my name. So...I'm Anna! It's wonderful that I found you so soon, Elsa!"

Elsa's jaw would have hit the floor if it could have stretched that far. Her eyes bugged.

"Elsa...?" The ice statue of Anna reached out to her. Putting aside the lack of real skin or color, she looked exactly like the real Anna. But she was a statue, and she was alive.

Elsa screamed.

* * *

"I'm sorry. I never meant to scare you like that. You're not mad at me, are you?"

Elsa and 'Anna' sat together on a couch of frozen snow that Elsa had summoned. Elsa didn't and couldn't look the other 'woman' in the eye. It had taken some time for her to calm down, but eventually she had and accepted the incredible truth that she had created new life with her magic. Now they were both worn out, or at least Elsa was, after a chase that had taken them through most of the castle. Ice didn't have lungs.

"...It's nothing wrong you did. You were just, er, born. I didn't expect something like this would happen." Elsa stared at the floor, at her feet, "My magic is stronger than I ever thought it could be." she felt a momentary pondering on her part; maybe her parents weren't so wrong for wanting to 'protect' her from the public view after all. Elsa was not ashamed of the powers she'd been born with, but things could only go so far for her liking.

"It's okay, I wasn't really expecting it either...heh. But I'm so happy that I can be alive! I don't know many other formations of frozen water that would ever get a chance like this!" 'Anna' flashed a cheesy grin and giggled. Elsa shivered; her voice sounded just like Anna's. Her silly humor, her goofy grin, it was all reminiscent of the younger sibling that Elsa so admired.

And then there was the whole fact she brought the statue to life by making out with it.

"So you were awake the whole time when I was kissing you?" Elsa asked, blushing so hotly that it was surprising the snow around her didn't start melting.

'Anna' shook her head. "No, it was around near the end of it. I felt your tongue...in my mouth."

Elsa buried her face in her hands.

"...I liked it, though."

The ice queen trembled; hearing those words come out in Anna's voice made her feel so many wrong things at once.

"Umm, why were you kissing me though? Do you like me? And how did you know my name was Anna before I even told you? I'm sorry for asking so many questions, especially when I'm the odd one out here, but the reason I left the room was because I wanted to know."

Elsa breathed out long and slow. She explained everything she could about the real Anna, from everything she knew about her, which was rather little since they hadn't spoken for years until the coronation. She left out the very important detail that Anna was actually her flesh-and-blood little sister. Even a ice sculpture would likely judge her harshly for wanting to slobber all over her female sister's face. She said Anna was a childhood friend whom she dearly cared for.

"Wow...to make me in her image, and to kiss me with that much passion...you must really, really like her." 'Anna' replied after some careful consideration.

Elsa nodded. "No, it's not a relationship I should let myself get caught into. There are, err, too many complications to consider."

"Because you're supposed to be a Queen, and she's another woman, is that the reason? Two Queens would make it difficult for there to be an heir after all."

"Um...y-yes...but that's not all, I'm afraid to think of her that way b-because of our long-lasting friendship..." Elsa didn't know why she was spilling her heart out like this, like a valve had been turned on and she couldn't stop the flow, but this was the first time she ever had the chance to tell someone about her inner troubles, and she needed that more than anything right now. She never had been able to speak to anyone in the castle about this. None of them would sympathize with her, and Elsa would sooner lock herself away again than speak to the real Anna about possibly lusting for her. The ice understood her like no human ever could.

"I see, and that's why I look like her, and that's why you...oh, my, and here I thought you might have loved me, a statue of ice, of all things!" 'Anna' laughed cheerily at the prospect, but the note of sadness in her chuckle was obvious.

Elsa felt her heart plunge deeper; guilt overtook her. "No! I didn't mean it like that! I...I don't know what I mean anymore."

The ice 'Anna' embraced the white-haired Queen, and she did so in the same fashion Anna would have hugged Elsa back as children.

"It's okay. I'm not mad. I was born like this, and I'm happy to be alive, regardless of the purpose. Maybe, Queen Elsa, we can even be friends? That is, if it isn't too awkward that I resemble your crush?"

Elsa couldn't help but laugh a little. It felt so good to laugh after everything she'd been through. It was just like when she had laughed with Anna that night, when they finally seemed like they could be regular sisters again after so many years, but it only lasted for so long. Elsa's laughter quickly gave way to sadness again the longer she mused on it. She hugged the ice 'Anna'. The embrace was so cold and so warm at the same time. She still didn't know just how intelligent this animated sculpture was, or how long it might live, or any sort of specifics at all, but Elsa had never felt an experience more elating than being able to talk about herself. Maybe she finally had a true friend. But it would take a long, long time before the pain of her feelings for the real Anna to subside.

"It would be fine for you to stay here with me for a while, if you'd like to do so."

The ice statue of Anna clutched Elsa tighter. She had loved the white-haired queen from the instant she'd awoken into existence. It was not a love that could be hampered by the facts behind her creation. It was a powerful, burning love, hot enough to melt her along with the entire ice palace. But it was also a dark and twisted love. She would not allow anyone to have Elsa, nor would she allow her creator to find true love; if that happened, Elsa's powers would crumble, and so too would the Anna statue. She would die with a shattered heart. For the sake of love and for the sake of her own life, 'Anna' wanted to make Elsa only hers.

She would drag the vulnerable young woman into the very depths of madness to achieve that goal, if she had to.


	3. Chapter 3

Marcus was a simple man who lived a simple life as a simple farmer. He did not live in the main kingdom of Arendelle, instead residing in one of the villages on its outskirts. He was not a man of great wealth or high status, and he did not ever expect to obtain such prominent ranks in his own community. He was a man who, along with his family of a wife and two children, raised and plucked the crops that the more well-off folks used for their lunches and dinners every day. It was a tough but uncomplicated life, and Marcus appreciated that. Complications were one thing he did not like dealing with.

Unfortunately, now that his farm land was covered in several inches worth of snow and ice, his very well-being had been put on the rocks. And now his own children were being held hostage. It had not been a good time for this man.

"Where do you keep your food supplies?" 'Anna' hissed at him, holding an icicle precariously close to the throat of the farmer's oldest son.

"I..." Marcus didn't know how he could appease this stranger, who had broken into their home so suddenly in the middle of the day. He only had so much food for his family, and because there was no clear answer to how long the freak snowstorm over Arendelle would last, he had to store and savor every crumb he could. He certainly wouldn't allow one of his children to be killed, but the sacrifice of food for the entire family prompted him to hesitate, if only briefly. This woman, whoever she was, had appeared practically out of nowhere and made these demands the instant she took hold of a hostage. Marcus had nothing to fight back with. His wife and younger son watched with wide, terrified eyes, frozen solid with fear. They were all being held at the intruder's mercy.

"Tell me where it is." 'Anna' pushed the ice a little closer.

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you! I have much food! Take whatever you want! Just please...please...don't hurt the boy!"

'Anna' glowered at Marcus, not saying a word, but the farmer knew that look well enough from having lived with his wife for many years. He turned and began walking. Still keeping the boy in her grasp, 'Anna' followed after him at a slow, shuffling pace. If she slipped, being made out of ice and all, the icicle would likely pierce right through the skin.

She could always wipe her hands clean in the snow.

* * *

"Elsa! I have your dinner prepared for you! And I made you some tea as well!"

Elsa hastily placed her book aside as her living ice mannequin stepped into the room. She smiled at her arrival. The two of them had been living together for almost two weeks, and Elsa had grown quite fond of her new companion, very quickly so, if part of the reason being influenced by the statue's resemblance to her beloved sister. Every time she saw the false 'Anna', Elsa's mind would always turn to the real one, and her heart would flutter even more. Elsa's original intention to avoid the statue and being swept up in these taboo feelings had all been but forgotten in the winds; she could feel herself growing more and more desiring of Anna. It was both terrifying, and in a twisted sort of way, exhilarating. However, she had still not kissed her frozen 'sister' again since that first time.

"Thank you, Anna. I truly appreciate you taking the time to make such meals for me. I will admit I might have been a bit hasty taking refuge in a palace of ice without preparing any sustenance for myself beforehand." Elsa bashfully admitted.

"No, it's quite alright; I'm made happiest by nothing except aiding you, Elsa. Your smile is what's most important to me."

Elsa felt all giddy at the compliments, but she needed to keep focus on the problem with 'Anna's persistent generosity. "Thank you. But please, if only to ease my guilt, don't push yourself so hard for me. Making tea and cooking food, putting yourself so close to a hot flame...you're not just inconveniencing yourself, you're putting your own life at risk."

"It doesn't hurt...not a bit." 'Anna' shook her head. She appeared a bit shinier on the surface, like she was sweating profusely. But ice couldn't sweat.

Elsa gulped.

"I'll take that now, thank you." Elsa took the plate from 'Anna' and continued, "Hmm...I haven't thought of this before, but since you're made out of ice, that means you can't eat, doesn't it?"

"Nope. I don't eat, I don't sleep, I don't breathe, I don't even need to use the latrine! It's a life that lacks a lot of a normal life's worries."

Elsa wondered where she had the fire to make tea in an ice palace, but it tasted so refreshing that such worries quickly went to the back of her mind. "Have you ever tried eating anything?"

"No, I haven't. I'd rather save it all for you."

Elsa ate some of her sandwich; it was chicken, a very simple dish, but she couldn't go around expecting fine banquets whenever she was hungry, especially when she had purposely left that exalted life behind her. "Do you want to try...?"

"I certainly shouldn't eat your food; it's for you, and you all. I won't take what little you have."

"Then how about this?"

With a quick wave of her hand, Elsa produced a small ice cube in the space of air inches from 'Anna's face. 'Anna' opened her mouth and ate it. Elsa watched, in great fascination, as her icy friend chewed the little cube into pieces for several seconds before finally swallowing.

"So, did it taste any good?"

'Anna' tilt her head to the side. "It was wet...and crunchy...and slick."

"Heh, well, that's ice for you."

The ice girl gave Elsa a seductive look, a little 'bedroom eyes' stare and raised eyebrows for emphasis. "Do you think I would taste wet and slick too?"

Elsa nearly snorted into her tea. That sort of dirty humor, she remembered those kind of jokes her sister used to make even when they were just children, despite neither of them really knowing better at the time. Although she was supposed to be a figure of royalty, Anna had always known the best ways to make Elsa crack an ever-so-rare smile. At the same time, Elsa felt a powerful stirring in her heart; based on the statue's face and voice, it was almost like her own sister was hitting on her. Elsa shivered and drank the rest of her tea quickly. It scorched her throat just like she hoped; the heat helped keep her mind focused.

'Anna' scooted a little closer to the other woman.

"Hey, Elsa?"

"Y-Yes?" Elsa felt that stirring starting up again inside of her. She shook it away just as before.

"After you're done eating, um...this is going to sound weird, but...look, an idea popped into my head all of the sudden, and I wanted to know if you would want to..."

"Well, come on, Anna, you can tell me...what is it?"

"Do you want to build a snowman?"

* * *

'Anna' knelt down and began packing snow in her hands. They had descended from the mountain with a staircase crafted by Elsa's magic, and now that they were on ground floor, at the mountain's base, they had more than enough snow to make due with. It went on for miles and miles, a field of glorious white, all the way down to the great lakes. It was beautiful, in the living statue's opinion. She was also quite fortunate that the snowfall was able to cover up her tracks leading to and from the village.

"So how exactly does someone make a snowman?" 'Anna' called out to Elsa. When Elsa did not respond right away, she looked up, only to catch the ice queen quietly staring off into the far distance. She was looking toward the capital of Arendelle, the royal palace, her real home. 'Anna' watched Elsa for a few seconds without saying anything, noting the way her shoulders sunk under the emotional weight of her loss. 'Anna' had to stop her from musing on the past. She didn't want Elsa to consider going back, not ever. If she had to, the ice statue would even use force to get her way...but she really wanted to avoid a situation like that, for both her sake and Elsa's.

"Elsa...?"

"Yes?" Elsa turned around. On her face was nothing but pure loneliness. 'Anna' tried to keep her own face straight; there was no question about it, she was thinking of the real Anna right now and missing her dearly. 'Anna' cleared her throat.

"I wanted to know, how do we make a snowman?"

Elsa shook her head. "You're the one who wanted to make a snowman in the first place, yet you don't know how?"

"How would I? I'm still new to this world, and I told you, the idea just popped into my head out of nowhere, so I don't know why I thought of it."

Elsa chuckled. "Okay, okay. Here, I'll show you. You start off by making several balls of snow of different sizes, the biggest one being the bottom to help support it..."

"Right! I'm on it!"

The two girls went right away to working on the snowman, which quickly became a pair of snowmen, then three, and then an entire family of snow-people. 'Anna's many attempts at crafting the perfect balls of snow were usually met with failure, as her icy figure caused most of the snow to slide off of her hands. Elsa had wanted to try and build snowmen the 'natural' way, without use of her powers, but soon her own patience wore thin, and with a few flighty motions of her wrists, the entire snow-family was completed: a mother, a father, and two daughters. The sisters were holding hands.

"Ah! It's so cute, Elsa!" 'Anna' clapped, "I love it!"

Elsa bowed. "Why, thank you." she laughed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be much help, though; ice hands and all that, a common problem for even the best of us." 'Anna' sighed with a shake of her head.

Elsa took 'Anna's hand into her own, and on a random impulse, kissed her on the cheek. "It's fine...believe me."

"Thank...you..."

The ice statue looked at Elsa, eyes bulging like mushroom caps, and she immediately returned the gesture with a more passionate one, right on the lips. 'Anna' had always loved Elsa from the instant of her creation, for reasons she did not know why, but she had been waiting ever since then for this moment.

At first Elsa was taken aback, but the longer the kiss held, the more she could feel herself sinking into it and letting the passion enfold around her and hold her close. She embraced the false 'Anna' and continued to kiss her, yet in the back of her mind, she could not imagine anyone else in her arms at that moment but her real sister.

* * *

Elsa and 'Anna' returned to the castle to find a very strange sight; carriages, parked outside the front gates.

"What in the world?"

Elsa ran toward them, leaving her companion behind to catch up. A group of soldiers had huddled around the gates with torches in hand. One of the intruders, clad in a beautiful fur coat only suited for one of noble status, was holding the flames against the doors to melt them. They were going to muscle their way inside with the one weapon most powerful against her ice. If they didn't watch themselves, the entire ice palace could come crumbling down.

Elsa raised her hands, summoning her powers. "Who are you? Who dares intrude on the queen's home?"

The man in the fur coat turned around. It was Hans, the prince of the Southern Isles and Anna's fiance.

"Ah, Queen Elsa! I was almost afraid we would have to melt your exquisite castle here just to get to you!"


	4. Chapter 4

"Hans."

Elsa lowered her arms, the fight draining from her like water bursting from a ruptured dam. The soldiers, likewise, went off the offensive stance. Hans simply stared back at the ice queen, silently offering the young woman to speak first. After all, even though the coronation had been cut short by her little breakdown, she was still next in line for royalty. Hans had to be respectful. The chilling winds whipped across all of their faces, and one of the soldiers couldn't help himself from sneezing.

"What are you doing here?" Elsa finally asked. Her voice was thick and dripping with scorn, and she held none of it back for the sake of the prince. She was in no mood to conceal it right now. At the same time, Elsa did not wish to erupt in front of 'Anna', whose footsteps through the snow were growing closer.

"I was...well, no, it would take too long to explain everything all at once."

"What?"

"Queen Elsa, I'm sorry, and I don't mean to seem like I'm talking back to the leader of the country, but for the sake of my men, at the very least, could we hold off on discussions until we have stepped out of the storm and into somewhere...less likely to kill us with frost?"

Elsa had forgotten that 'normal' people were usually susceptible to the cold. She waved her hand and the gates behind Hans split open, releasing a hollowed groan that echoed throughout the mountain; it was like the very palace itself was bemoaning to have to grant entrance to these dangerous visitors.

"Thank you." Hans flashed the ice queen one of his 'pretty boy smiles', something that Elsa assumed he practiced extensively in the mirror every morning, before turning away to enter the palace with the soldiers accompanying him. Their boots clicked on the surface of the icy floor, but it was because of their boots that they could hold onto their traction, but Elsa would have gotten quite a laugh from watching the pompous prince falling on his rear. Instead, he waltzed right in, as if he owned the place. Just like he thought he owned her sister's heart. Elsa despised him.

"Elsa? That man..." 'Anna' walked up beside her, and Elsa was almost briefly surprised by the lack of heavy breathing or exhaustion from running through the snow, but then she remembered that her companion wasn't really human.

"Yes, that man is from the palace. He's-"

"He's Prince Hans from the Southern Isles. I...I know who he is."

"What?" Elsa nearly smacked her head into 'Anna's, she spun around to face her so fast, "How do you already know who he is if you haven't even met him before? I mean, you HAVEN'T met him before, right?"

'Anna' gaped, lacking the words to explain herself. She had nothing she could say as a justified reason for her knowing the prince; his identity literally popped into her mind the moment she saw him. She had made several unannounced trips into human territory over the past few weeks, mainly for the sake of obtaining food for Elsa, but even then she never bothered to learn anything about the royal affairs; all she needed to know was what Elsa told her. Now she was suddenly recalling names and places she shouldn't have known. Even stranger, when she thought about Hans, she didn't feel herself getting riled up. Instead, she felt sad. Simply sad. Like there was something she desperately wanted to tell Hans, and it was on the very tip of her tongue, but she couldn't recall it no matter how deeply into her memories she dug.

But her desire to protect Elsa was even stronger. She wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he attempted to harm her love. She would even fight off the armed soldiers if it came to that; her ice body could handle taking much more damage than one made of flesh.

"I haven't, but...it was...a lucky guess?"

"A lucky guess?" Elsa cocked an eyebrow, "Now you're just fooling with me, Anna. I never mentioned Hans before, and yet you knew who he was...and that's not to mention some of the things you say, they're so strange..." She took the ice statue's hands into her own, and stared into her eyes, the worry plain on her face. 'Anna' didn't know what to tell her. Part of her wanted to kiss her again.

"Excuse me? Queen Elsa and, er, her friend?"

Elsa and 'Anna' turned their heads. Hans was standing in the doorway, staring at them.

"Are you two going to come inside? I'm afraid I can only spend so much time here; unlike you, my queen, the cold DOES bother me, just a smidgen."

Elsa nodded. "I'll be right there, Prince Hans."

"Thank you!" Hans grinned and he left once again, the soldiers standing in watch not too far away.

Elsa looked back at 'Anna' again, but the ice statue was refusing to meet her gaze any further. She simply stared at the ground, hugging herself as if she was suddenly hit by the chill of cold air. Yet that would be an impossibility. Elsa sighed, shook her head, walked away, all without another word. They would need to discuss with Hans his reasons for the unannounced visit and to try and remove him from the premises as calmly and quietly as possible. Elsa would wait until after then to continue speaking with 'Anna'. She wanted to help her new friend any way she could, because she loved her.

'Anna' stared off at the far-off woods at the bottom of the mountain before following Elsa into the palace.

* * *

Hans' cold, calculating eyes followed 'Anna's every movement as she made her way around the small room, offering a plate of flavored ice cubes to all of the soldiers. All of them declined. Elsa and Hans sat across from each other on separate couches, with two soldiers filling the cushions on Hans' either side. These two companions of Hans' were clearly of a different breed compared to their brethren. The soldiers that 'Anna' tended to were a motley lot, likely a group of farmers and homeless from town hired by Hans; he probably offered a great reward to aid him in finding and confronting the ice queen. It seemed that over the week since the icestorm began, most of his actual soldiers abandoned him for warmer climates. The two still loyal to the prince were larger, bulkier, tougher; they gave off an aura of professionalism from their rigid stances and watchful eyes. They kept their hands on their weapons at all times.

Elsa didn't like it, and she made sure to display her disapproval using her face, but Hans seemed to be ignoring her and kept his leering gaze transfixed to the ice statue. That only displeased the ice queen even more. It reminded her of the coronation all over again, and she hugged herself even tighter.

"Amazing, the work you did on this one." Hans remarked with fascination, "It's looks so real! I mean, really! Just like her! It has her looks, her smile, her mannerisms, even her voice! Remarkable!"

"Y-Yes...I suppose so..." Elsa brushed back a hair that had suddenly gone stray, "In any case, we should focus on business right now. Prince Hans, please tell me, what is it that you want from me? This palace is my home now, I've abandoned my old residence and the people left behind...and I am not wanting to have any visitors here." 'Except for Anna.' Elsa mentally added.

Hans sighed. 'Anna' kept watch on him out of the corner of her eye. One of Hans' personal guards was staring back, the other glaring intensely at the ice queen. It honestly felt like they were being held hostage inside their own home.

"It shouldn't be difficult to understand why I'm here, Queen Elsa," Hans replied.

"Drop the moniker, I'm not a queen." Elsa shook her head.

"Well, I can't really do that, you see, because you are. You were decided as the heiress to the royal family of Arendelle, and even though you basically ran away during the royal coronation, you're still considered to be the new queen and as such you're responsible for both this country and its people. Everyone has agreed that that's the case."

Elsa grumbled under her breath. 'Anna' nervously fingered the plate in her hands; even a plate made of ice could be turned into a deadly weapon if thrown hard enough. She would protect Elsa, no matter what.

Hans continued, "I was there when you first unleashed your powers, and I've seen the damage you've done by bringing about this eternal winter. People are going to die of cold and starvation if things aren't changed soon, don't you understand that? So I came here to plead with you, Queen Elsa...you need to have some mercy on Arendelle's citizens and stop the snowfall before everyone freezes to death! You can bring summer back, can't you?"

Elsa shook her head. "I can't do it."

"Please! Think of the children, at the least!"

Elsa shook her head again.

"W-Well, baring that...what would the former king and queen say about this? What about Anna, and I'm talking the real one, not this ice imitation you have walking around? Surely you've talked about this-" Hans' voice started to raise as he became more desperate.

Elsa scowled, interrupting, "I don't mean I can't do it because I don't want to. It's because I really can't. My gift is to be able to create snow and ice out of the air, not to remove it. It only goes one-way, and after that, it's all up to the natural elements. The snow stays, the ice stays. There's no way for me to stop it anymore...and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Hans' eyes narrowed, incredulous. Even the soldiers began to mutter among themselves. Elsa felt so ashamed; all she wanted was to let it all go, to be happy. She didn't want to have to deal with any of this.

"You can't be serious. Queen Elsa, if you don't stop this now, the entire country will have to be abandoned! No one can suitably live here except for you!"

"You have to understand, Hans, there isn't anything I can do! I wish I could, but...I can't..." Elsa gripped her knees hard enough to nearly dig her fingernails in; her eyes drifting to the floor and away from Hans' face, "...I really can't..."

Hans began to feel utterly hopeless, but he still pressed on. He didn't want to become the ruler of a land of ice; he honestly despised the cold. He gave Elsa a sad, disappointed look, but he was being stern at the same time. "You have to do something! Queen Elsa, you're the one responsible for this country's current situation, and...and if you can't fix it...you know what that means, don't you?"

Elsa wished she could just shut her eyes and make everything go away. 'Anna' started to grow uneasy as well, as if she could feel Elsa's own deep-routed despair rising up inside of her, a terrible sensation that seemed to be constantly prevalent, but always hidden in the back of her mind until now. Even people who made Elsa cry could not be forgiven. Hans didn't wait for the ice queen to reply this time.

"It means that you've become a traitor attempting to destroy her own country. I may just be a royal guest visiting your homeland from the Southern Isles, but I will take on the duty to stop you myself if no one else can. I can't let things stay this way, and you must be aware of that."

"I just want to be able to live happily with Anna..." Elsa muttered.

Hans stood up, as did his guards. Elsa gasped, wiping away the wetness in her eyes as she prepared to defend herself. 'Anna' leaped into action.

"Grab her! Don't let her ice powers stop you!" Hans ordered. The guards started to move in, their spears and swords raised. Elsa was intending to stop them by encasing their legs in ice, but before she could begin to weave her spells, the ice statue had already jumped in between her and the oncoming mob.

"Anna...!"

'Anna' snapped the ice plate in half, and, wielding a half-moon slice in each hand, charged straight at the guards. She wasn't going to waste time taking on all of them; it would be too risky, considering her ice's fragile state. If she cut down the leader, the rest would throw away their arms and surrender. It was her best bet, and then she and Elsa could live in their ice palace, together and forever. 'Anna' knocked away the first two guards with the back of her arm, they were easy pickings, not suitable for capturing an ice queen at all. 'Anna' bent her head forward, slamming herself into the third guard. He tumbled backward, the back-end of his spear jabbing his fellow conspirator in the gut. She reached out to grab one of them by the head, but instead she only felt herself grasping air.

'Anna' stumbled, an iron spear point lodging itself in her chest, deep enough to almost come out the other side. Hans' personal guard, either one of them 'Anna' couldn't tell them apart, was staring her down. The other personal guard grabbed 'Anna' from behind before she could hit the ground. Her arms were thrust behind her back, and because she lacked the sense for pain that a human would, the two men did not go easy on her with the rough-housing, making sure to twist her wrists and grind her hands when they tied them together. Hans approached her with a sword drawn. 'Anna' wanted to check over to Elsa, to ensure she was okay, but the prince grabbed her swiftly by the chin.

"This...this has to be some kind of disguise, right? You can't really be..." Hans murmured to himself. 'Anna' had no idea what he was rambling about. Hans raised his sword and struck the ice statue on the face with the hilt, and everything went dark on the left side of 'Anna's peripheral vision. She could hear the broken shards of ice tumbling out her face and scattering onto the floor. Hans peered inside the newly-created hole. 'Anna's head hung limp; she felt so drained of energy all of the sudden. And yet, some unwavering, almighty presence inside of her, far more forgiving than she ever thought she could be, did not hate Hans entirely for this. He just didn't understand, that was all.

"...There's no one inside?" The prince asked, his eyebrows high enough to risk flying off his face. It seemed he had been expecting the ice Anna's existence to just be a trick, maybe that the real Anna was hiding inside.

"Prince Hans! Please!" screeched one of the guards from aside, "Stop her, or else she's going to kill us! Please, get her to stop!"

Hans responded to the call, and let out a strangled gasp. "Q-Queen Elsa! What're you doing?"

The guards that 'Anna' had knocked over were trapped together in a sheet of ice, their entire bodies covered except for their heads. Elsa stood over them, her hands outstretched and trembling, her eyes bulging wide. She started to move her fingers inward, to form a fist, and the guards screamed in unison, the ice clenching around them.

"Elsa..." Hans briefly let the moniker slip from his mind as he tried to speak to her, in his calmest voice, "Elsa...what are you doing?"

"Let her go now." Elsa hissed with teeth barred.

"Elsa-"

"Let her go, I said! Do you want me to...to kill them?"

Hans gave a curt nod and a wave to the two men behind him, and 'Anna' dropped to the floor. A few more cracks in her face started to form.

"Now, let me have a chance to speak." Elsa breathed; she was starting to gather herself again. To see her friend, who looked just like her sister, to be attacked like that...it had sent her into a frenzy. Now she was able to think more clearly, like a queen should.

Hans gave her the go-ahead.

"I'm willing to work with you to try and find a way to reverse my powers, Hans, if that's what you really want! But...but please, just let me be! Leave her alone! And...and let me see Anna! Those are my conditions!"

Hans' face fell. "Anna?"

"Yes, Anna! My sister, the real one! I want to see her!" Elsa shouted back at him.

"Wait...wait a minute..."

"I want to see Anna! I miss her so much! I-I want to apologize to her, and tell her how sorry I am for yelling at her, and everything else I never got to say since our childhood!" Elsa was starting to ramble on, but she couldn't stop herself, the motor of her mouth running at full speed. Her eyes started to glisten with oncoming tears. 'Anna' watched her beloved out of the corner of her eye; so this was it, this was just how badly Elsa missed her sister; the sister that she held so much affection for that she was dangerously on the verge of breaking through the moral barrier of society. 'Anna' wished she could cry out with her, but she couldn't. She had driven Elsa to insanity by tempting her with forbidden lust, and now Elsa was crumbling under its weight on her mind.

"Queen Elsa, there must be some kind of mistake-"

"I need to see Anna right now!" Elsa stomped her foot.

"Anna...I thought...she was with you..." Hans tried to explain.

Elsa's eyes widened even further. "No."

"I haven't seen Anna for almost a week; from what I heard, she had gone out into the blizzard...to find you."


	5. Chapter 5

'Anna' stumbled into her bedroom, her hand still clutched firmly over the left side of her face. She pulled her hand away and motioned toward the giant mirror standing against the west wall. She examined her features. Indeed, the new patch of ice Elsa had crafted onto her fit nicely. It looked perfect, as if Hans had never broken her left eye in the first place. 'Anna' blinked rapidly, to check for any issues of vision, but came up with none. 'Anna' stroked her fingers a quarter-circle around her icy cheek, silently marveling at it all. She knew she couldn't feel pain like a normal human, but she was impressed that her body could be repaired with such ease, when Elsa's magic was used as the glue.

But then she remembered the reason she'd come to her bedroom in the first place. The closet. She needed to get it.

'Anna' looked around. Her sisters were staring back at her; the unfinished statues, the creations left abandoned, the failed and the lame. It had been by 'Anna's own request to the ice queen that they were not disposed of. These deformed sculptures could not speak or move, 'Anna' doubted they possessed any sort of sentience at all, but it still felt like they were always watching her. For Elsa, they were just memories of a terrible past, evident by the strained expressions she wore whenever she entered the bedroom. For 'Anna', though, they were symbols of both how far she'd gone and how far she could fall; representing her superiority over them and reminding her just how mortal she was. Even though she could survive wounds that would kill a human being, it didn't mean that ice was invulnerable.

'Anna' shook her head. She couldn't waste time musing; Elsa needed her. Her sister, the real Anna, had been missing for over a week in the midst of a country-wide snowstorm. There was little possibility that she would be found alive at this point, 'Anna' and Hans both knew this, but Elsa refused to hear anything different. Her sister was one of the very few good parts of her life she wanted to keep holding onto. The ice statue was terrified for what she would soon witness, for what Elsa's reaction would be when she finally accepted the painful truth. 'Anna' wouldn't be able to comfort her queen, not while wearing the face of her dead little sister.

'Ann'a opened the closet. A red cloak hung on the rack. A blackened stain, old blood, was evident on the inside of the hood. 'Anna' removed the cloak, thrusting it against her frozen body with trembling fingers. She needed to be quick.

She had hidden this cloak from her beloved for so long, afraid of revealing it to her. Now she needed to take it and return to where she had discovered it, by the edge of the woods. Maybe a clue there could guide her to the location of Anna's ultimate fate. She would likely be lead to a corpse, but if somehow, she did discover that Elsa's sister had survived all this time, and 'Anna' was the first one there...

The living sculpture would kill her. The horror and agony of losing Elsa to the real Anna was far worse than simply breaking her heart, even though both options were still terrible ones. She would gladly suffer in watching Elsa suffer than being the one who has to suffer alone. She loved Elsa just that much.

* * *

"Queen Elsa, you need to understand...we can't possibly conduct a suitable search for Anna in this weather, or even with this much snow...and besides, I don't think we will be able to find her."

Elsa shook her head, in the midst of departing. "No. No, we can find her...it shouldn't be that hard...her hair would stand out like a sore thumb in all that white, you know this. It'd only take one glance from your boorish guards here to spot her. We can do this. I can do this."

"That's not what I am talking about, and you know it!" Hans stepped forward.

"Then what are you talking about, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles?" Elsa turned back to face him, her eyes wide and wild. They were vicious, tenacious, unforgiving eyes, belonging to a woman on the verge of breaking apart under the weight of being such a broken soul. The eyes of a mad woman; a mad woman who refused to let any truths or facts penetrate her mind, only willing to believe one thing: that her sister was still alive. Hans had to tear himself away from such eyes by faking a sudden cough.

"Never mind; I'm sure that we'll find her." Hans said, "She is my fiance after all. I don't want anything to happen to her."

Elsa continued to stare.

"...W-What?"

"I would expect you to care at least that much about her after having dated for just a day. Which reminds me, I never did give you two permission to marry, and I still don't intend to."

Hans, in any other situation, if the woman speaking to him did not happen to be both somewhat mentally unhinged and possessing ice magic beyond his understanding, would have promptly responded for her in the way that only an infuriated gentleman could. He might have even used his hand to slap her. However, he knew that Elsa was also stressed over her sister, and that was why she would bring up such irrelevant issues even now. He simply nodded his head and moved back. Elsa hurried off as well. Good riddance, Hans thought.

But then she came dashing right back.

"No, no, no! What am I doing?" Elsa slapped her forehead, "We should be discussing our plan together! We need to decide how we're going to go about this search!"

"Right, right..." Hans just went along with whatever the queen was saying, silently amazed. The queen was practically jumping between emotions, unable to decide whether to bare her teeth at the prince's neck or look to him as a potential aid in her sister's time of need. It was maddening, worse than he'd feared, a week alone with a ice statue of Anna as her only company had done a lot more damage than Hans initially thought. Or maybe the queen had always been nuts, it wasn't just her ice powers that got her locked up. Hans knew 'crazy' well, but he still couldn't figure out Elsa.

"How many men do you have here?" Elsa asked.

"I have more than enough." Of course, Hans added in her head, it was all because I hoped to eventually apprehend you, but look at how that turned out.

"I want you to lead them, make sure that they cover as much area as possible. Check under the snow if you have to. Shout out her name until your lungs start to ache. I don't care if your fingers or toes go numb. If you find anything, anything at all, I demand to be informed immediately."

"What will you do?"

Elsa shook her head. "Whatever it takes to find her."

Hans wondered how Anna could have possibly survived out in the freezing wilderness for over a week. It certainly didn't seem possible, even if she'd found shelter, the biting cold and lack of proper food would do her in. And then there were also wolves and bears, which Hans had come across several times during his initial search for Anna. He had also heard stories of trolls living in the mountains, but that hardly seemed likely. After all, there did not seem to be many official accounts of witnessing such creatures, and even then, those who did claim to see them for real were known as raving lunatics by the community. Hans did not believe a single rumor. Anna was dead, but he needed to find her body at the very least, to prove it to Elsa.

"We'll get started right away, Queen Elsa."

Elsa grabbed the nearest soldier she could snatch at arm's length. "Where is Anna?"

"I'm sorry, my Queen, do you mean...your sis-"

"No, the ice one! The statue!"

"...I, I don't know, ma'am..."

Elsa released him, and the soldier scurried off to join the others. Elsa stared blankly ahead; where had that ice statue gone? Where had her other Anna gone?

* * *

'Anna' did not feel the sting of the freezing air, nor the weariness of dragging her legs through the snow, as she hurried for the forest. She was clutching the red cloak against her body; it was her only clue in finding the true Anna. She pushed onward, snow collecting on her ice body like dust mites. 'Anna' had found the cloak several days ago a little ways into the forest, clinging to a branch like any old rag. 'Anna' had thought it mightily strange, and in the midst of wondering who it could belong to, she had touched it. When her fingers graced the cloak, it was like an electrical surge had suddenly shot through her body. It should have been impossible, yet her 'brain' had felt it. A feeling, a voice, a will other than her own was telling her to 'keep it safe'. Not willing to simply leave it where she found it, 'Anna' had stolen the cloak away into her bedroom, locking it away from Elsa. 'Anna' had never felt guiltier about anything.

'It should be around here...' the ice sculpture was returning to the scene of the crime, the place where she had found the cloak. She would begin searching for Elsa's sister from that spot. She wanted to locate Anna before Hans or the guards, because if Elsa's sister was still somehow alive, then she needed to be dead before she could reach the ice palace. Bundled inside the cloak was an ice pick. A quick jab to the throat would be enough.

'Anna' stopped, gazing up at a snapped tree branch. To anyone else, it would have seemed like any ordinary snapped tree branch. But for the ice sculpture, it had been the arm holding firmly onto the cloak. This was where she had discovered it.

'Anna' stopped and listened. She could hear nothing but the cries of the wind. Not even the sound of sticks cracking under the weight of feet reached her ears. It seemed the guards were not on their way either. Good for her.

'Now where are you...?'

'Anna' removed the ice pick from the cloak. She was well-aware that it was unlikely that Anna would still be in this area, not after several days. But there was also a chance she might return to find her cloak. Either way, 'Anna' needed the body, she needed some sort of evidence aside from the cloak itself, to prove that Elsa's sister was dead.

'Anna' had been walking further and further into the forest all this time. Suddenly, her leg bumped into something. She looked down. A large section of the snow was risen in an unusual shape, much different from the surrounding field of fluffy white. The ice statue bent down and brushed away some of the snow. She couldn't make it out just yet. She wiped away a few more layers of frost.

A face stared back. Her own face.

'Anna' fell to her knees. She couldn't believe it; she was terrified, breathless, yet strangely drawn to see more.

"Oh...oh my..."

She continued to brush away the snow, revealing more and more of the frozen body underneath. It was gut-wrenching, enough to turn the stomach of even a living block of ice. Even before she had died, the young woman had been in terrible shape. Her body was covered in bruises and blood splatter, and a patch of blood was especially thick on the top of her head, in between the follicles of her flaming-red hair. That explained the stain inside the cloak, at the very least. Her face was encrusted with thick chunks of ice, her mouth slightly agape, filled with even more ice. It was disgusting. 'Anna' wanted to look away; she had never killed someone before, despite all intentions of doing so for Elsa's sake. This was her first time seeing a human corpse. She had wanted Elsa's sister to die, but not like this.

She gently touched Anna's cold cheek. And then it all came back to her. In a single instant, as if an entire ship had just plummeted from the sky and crashed down on top of her head, she understood everything. She removed her hand, as if she'd just touched hot coals and jumped to her feet, trembling violently. Her ice pick slipped from her hand, forgotten. 'Anna' stared at the corpse with bulging, frightened eyes.

It couldn't have been true, but somehow, a fear she'd never imagined before had already been realized. She'd never given it any thought until now, yet it all seemed so obvious from the very start. Everything was piecing itself together inside of her mind, and she could only pray that it finished doing so before it split apart from the strain. The connection she'd made with Anna's body had provided her the final parts of the puzzle. Those brief flashes of memory when playing with Elsa, the memories she had just regained now, her love for her sister, even her voice and facial features. It made sense, but in the most illogical way possible. Tears of snowflakes cascaded down her icy cheeks. She didn't want to accept it true, but what else could it be, after what she'd just seen inside her own head?

The corpse buried in the snow had been her original body.


End file.
